Aussie actor Paul Gleeson admitted that filming Thirteen Lives was “physically tough” on the body.

Ron Howard has created a masterpiece film focusing on the rescue of the Thai soccer team.

In June and July of 2018, a junior association football team was rescued from the Tham Luang Nang Non-cave in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand.

Twelve members of the team, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach entered the cave on June 23 after a football practice session.

Shortly afterward, heavy rainfall partially flooded the cave system, blocking their way out and trapping them deep within.

Mr Gleeson told Deborah Knight playing the part of a rescuer in the film put a strain on the body.

“Cave diving is entirely a different thing to open water diving,” he said.

“We were literally four metres down which doesn’t sound like a lot but when you’re down there for seven to eight hours a day then you wear yourself out pretty quickly.

“There’s also the anxiety that goes with it.”

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Image: Getty/Frazer Harrison